1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a network appliance for automatic detection and management of network devices connected to the network appliance. Specifically, the invention detects a network device by listening for an IP address request from the network device, and then obtaining configuration information and capabilities of the network device by using the IP address provided to the network device. The network appliance provides a common focal point for the network administrator to configure and manage all network devices detected by the network appliance.
2. Incorporation by Reference
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/664,531, entitled “Object-Based Architecture For Supporting Network Devices,” filed Sep. 18, 2000, is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth in full herein.
3. Description of the Related Art
The administration of network devices, such as network printers, in a network environment is typically a tedious and time consuming task for network managers. In particular, for large and complex network environments having several local servers, there may be a large number of printers distributed throughout the network. Many of the printers may be physically remote from the location of the network administrator. In traditional network environments, the network administrator has to travel to the location of each new printer to install the printer on the network and to configure the network settings, which can include the printer name and a unique IP address for the printer.
The network administrator also may need to setup a corresponding print queue on a print server for the printer. The print server may be maintained in a local server or on another server which is remote from the printer. It can be appreciated that a large, complex network can have a great number of print servers to accommodate all printers on the network. A print queue is setup by the network administrator by entering information about the printer, such as network configuration information, as well as information regarding the printer name, printer functionality and capabilities, and the printer driver associated with the printer. In addition, the network administrator may setup the print queue based on additional information regarding which network users are allowed access to the printer, and what type of print jobs can be submitted to the printer. The network administrator then has to publish the new print queue for access by the appropriate network users. Accordingly, installation of a new printer may require the network administrator to work at the location of the new printer and at the location of the print server on which the new corresponding print queue is hosted. In such an environment, the print queues for all printers on the network are distributed in a diverse manner across several different servers.
In addition to installing new printers on the network, the network administrator must go through a similar process each time a network printer is reconfigured. For example, a printer may be moved to another location and given another name for use by a different set of network users, or new capabilities may be added to the printer, or the network settings of the printer may be modified. In each case, the network administrator must make sure that the network server and the corresponding print queue are modified to reflect the changes. In addition, some of the foregoing changes may require notification to the appropriate user workstations to modify the corresponding printer settings on the workstation.
In a large enterprise, such as a large, physically distributed company with large numbers of printers, the foregoing system administrative tasks related to network printers can be overwhelming. In addition to the network administration tasks associated with the printers, other network problems can arise in relation to the printers. For example, a large number of printers on the network can generate a significant amount of network traffic between the print servers and the printers. Network traffic can also be generated during network administration of the printers if a network management tool is utilized which continuously polls for the presence of the printers and which obtains configuration and capability information from the printers. Such large amounts of network traffic can detract from the other communication between workstations, servers, and other network devices. Furthermore, a large number of printers in a network environment can consume a large number of corresponding IP addresses which may limit the total number of IP addresses available on the network for other devices.
Other considerations in conventional network environments include user policy and security problems. For example, a network user is able to see the presence of a printer at the user's workstation, but may not have authorization to access the print queue associated with the printer. Such a user may then use the IP address of the printer to send a rendered print job directly to the printer without going through the print queue. Such an action would be in violation of user policy and could be a security breach if a sensitive document is printed to a printer at an unsecured location.
Network management tools, such as administration software and stand-alone appliances, have been developed in an attempt to make the network administration of printers more efficient for a network administrator. However, such network management tools often require that the network printers have special software to simulate a plug-and-play functionality for detection and configuration of the printers. For example, the network printers may require special software to initiate a discovery process and publish information about itself to the network. In addition, many such network management tools require frequent issuance of broadcast messages or status messages to all printers on the network to detect new printers and/or monitor for changes in existing printers. As mentioned above, this additional network traffic is undesirable and can cause network congestion. In the case that a plurality of network management tools are utilized in a large network environment to handle all printers in a distributed fashion, the network administrator does not have a single focal point from which to efficiently manage all printers. Lastly, known network management tools are not believed to be extendable to provide additional printer support functionality as needed in accordance with a particular network environment.